I detest romantic novels, unless ofcourse they are heart rendering like Anna Karenina. Love is beautifully terrible and all consuming, and this is perhaps why most of the greatest love stories are tragedies.
Anna Karenina is Tolstoy's and Tolstoy has an amazing way of knowing what a person would feel in any situation and has an even more amazing ability to convey those exact emotions to his readers. This is a story of a married woman who falls in love with a younger army officer and the tragedy that their being together begets. And no, its not a book on morality. It is just a story of real-life-like people caught up in a terrible torrent.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Ekla Chalo
Bengali and Urdu are the two languages I really wish I knew... Bengali for Tagore, and Urdu for Faiz and Ghalib. Reading poetry in it's own language is a joy. But till we get there, here is a translation of a simple and profound Tagore composition:
If they answer not to thy call, walk alone;
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
Open thy mind and speak out alone.
If they turn away and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
Trample the thorns under thy tread,
And along the blood-lined track travel alone.
If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
With the thunder-flame of pain ignite thine own heart,
And let it burn alone.
- Tagore
If they answer not to thy call, walk alone;
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
Open thy mind and speak out alone.
If they turn away and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
Trample the thorns under thy tread,
And along the blood-lined track travel alone.
If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
With the thunder-flame of pain ignite thine own heart,
And let it burn alone.
- Tagore
Saturday, October 9, 2010
You may say I'm a dreamer...
But I'm not the only one
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
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